Matthew my son had some emotional problems, he began talking about killing himself and others, he had refuse to go to school and it got to the point after a year of this and hearing him say that he needed his dad, and having counselors coming to my house twice a week and a behavioral specialist coming twice a week ,and after having him put in a mental hospital three times ,and asking the C.P.S. for their help in N.C and them telling me that the only way they could help is if i turned over custody to them, my final battle with him was catching him picking the locks on our gun cabinet and when i asked him what he thought he was doing ,his reply was i am going to catch you and step dad in bed and shoot you so i turned to his father and first step mother, they agreed to take him and straighten him out, so they came and got him and took him to Georgia, and he stayed there for about three months, when him and his father moved back to Coeburn, Wise County VA and i was calling him the entire time ,and he was telling me that he was find. well one night ,i get a call from my ex-husbands sister telling me that i needed to come in and see how my son was living, so i pack up and take off the next day ,when i get there it is about three a clock am and we go to my sons house and there my son is by himself in this shack of a house with no water, no electricity, no food and no heat in the month of October, so i get my son and i go to my ex-mother in laws house and my self and my son and my ex-mother in-law and ex sister in-law set down and began talking, my ex sister in law is begging me to let her and her husband take Matthew to Georgia and get him the help that he needed, so i agree to let her do this, now keep in mind that she has been told everything about this child ,so she takes him to Georgia and about three weeks after my son is down there my ex-sister in-law Rhonda goes and adopts a eight year old girl and this girl is hitting on my son constantly and my son is not allowed to defend his self, and the first time that he did she takes him to court and relinquishes her custody and at this time the judge, asked me if i was willing too take custody of Matthew at this time and take him back into my home ,and i told the judge that at this time i could not take Matthew back into my home until he got the help that he needed ,and then the judge asked me and Matthews aunt Rhonda what we thought would be best for Matthew at this time, and our reply was the same that the previous doctors that Matthew had been under suggested that Matthew needed a short time boot camp or military school, then judge said that the state was into much of financial bind to do such as the doctors requested, and then ordered that the Wise County Social Services take him into custody.

The Wise County Social Services then took Matthew and put him in a foster home in Coeburn, with a very nice elderly lady that has had several children ,placed with her from the WDSS, since they were infants, Matthew felt very out of place with this woman, for several different reasons,1. was that she was an elderly lady that could get out with him and do the things that a child his age recommended,.2.was that all of the other children that was there had been there for a very long time and they treated him as an outsider,.3.was that there was a young girl there that had a crush on him and he felt very uncomfortable, with some of the things that she would do and say,

So from there Matthew tried to inform the C.P.S. worker and the foster care mother ,of what was going on, but no one believed him, so this kept going on for awhile until Matthew kept on being persistent on them moving him until they finally did so, the C.P.S. put in another home there in Coeburn, with a couple that had a few kids there placed by the C.P.S. and from my under standing Matthew was doing fine, and one day the C.P.S. worker came in and checked him out of school early and took him to the Victory Boy's home which is where he is at now, Matthew had been here for a few weeks and everything was going well and then he ran away on a Sunday with another boy which is sixteen years old and had ran away several different times, I was very fortunate that Matthew was found on Friday, I spent the weekend with him and he was returned on Tuesday and he ran away again on the following Sunday and was found and returned that Sunday night, he is still at the Victory Boy's Home and is doing well.

The reason s that Matthew ran away both times was that at this group home you have to do certain things ,like tell on the other boys when they are not following the rules and when they are smoking or other things like this ,in order to build the adults trust and earn certain privileges, so Matthew was doing what he thought he had to do, and when the other boys found out that Matthew was the one telling in them they told him that they were going to get him, so scared that he was going to be jumped and hurt he decided to run. while all this is going on keep in mind that i call my son two and three timews a week and visit with him as much as i can.

Matthew was placed with the WDSS or C.P.S. to get him the help that i thought that he needed that i could not give him, Matthew was turned over to the WDSS or C.P.S. on Feb 04,2003 with myself understanding that Matthew was going to get the help that he needed,but my son did not receive any counseling or help from anyone until ,November 03 ,2003.

I also have a fourteen year old that lives with me that i thought had the same behavior problems that Matthew was going thru, so a few months ago i started doing some research on my own and with some help of friends and family, and we have found out that neither one of my sons have a behavior problem so a disciplinary problem which was what i have been told for years now, my boys have a disability that is called an Auditoral Processing Disability, I have tried to explain this to the C.P.S. worker and group home ,but no one wants to take the time to have Matthew tested, I have took my fourteen years old for his testing ,and he was diagnosed with this Auditoral Processing Disability, and if in fact that Matthew does have this Disability ,he is being treated wrong and with the way that he is being treated can make him worse.

I have a cousin that is trained and educated on how to work with children like Matthew and Sondra my cousin has petition to have custody of Matthew so that she can help him, but the C.P.S. is fighting her ,because she has four children of her own, the C.P.S. says that she has to many children ,and that she already has her hands full ,i find out the other day that i have five months left before the C.P.S. tries to take my parental rights, and the C.P.S will not let me have my son back because they say that i have issues and Matthew has issues ,so with me knowing all of this ,i ask my cousin if her and her husband would be willing to adopt Matthew ,so that i will always be a part of his life, they agreed to adopt Matthew, they really want Matthew in their home and Matthew really wants to be a part of their family, the C.P.S. is also fighting this, Keep in mind that my cousin and her husband has known me from a small child and has been in Matthews life since birth.

Please help me get my son out of the hands of the WDSS before they ruin him for the rest of his life, my son has a disability, Matthew is not a bad child he just needs the appropriate help and my cousin can give that to him ,and my cousin Sondra Mccfadden Maine and her husband James Maine ,can really help my son!! and they can really help me ,I LOVE MY SON MATTHEW VERY MUCH AND I CAN NOT STAND to watch him suffer any longer ,I have caused my son enough pain and suffering by not realizing that he was ill and not a problem child and by putting him in this place!!!!! Please HELP ME!!

My troubles with the WDSS started when my first husband and i separated and he began calling the WDSS, every time he turned around, this was about ten years ago.

I am writing you because i was told by Cheryl Dunlap that you actually cared about the family that tries to the best the can and that loves their children enough to get them the help that they need ,but instead of helping their children ,their children gets ripped out of their mothers arms and tormented every day wondering how mommy can say that she loves them but then allows someone to take them and put them with strangers, HOW IS THIS PROTECTING THE CHILDREN? i see children everyday that actually needs protection ,because they are either being beat or starved or sexually abused or neglected ,they are the ones that need the protection, but instead of getting the help they need they are just ignored, so either way you go the C.P.S. or the WDSS are the ones that are doing the abuse.

I can not afford a lawyer and even if i could ,the question would be is there one that would stand up to the C.P.S.

I feel that if you do not have money or if you do not have the right connections ,you are just in for trouble and you do not have a chance.

 Sincerely,

A devoted and loving mother.
Christina Pillow

a formal VA resident

Another victim of the C.P.S.